A synopsis of the story

Anna Karenina is a film version of the Tolstoy classic. Set in late 19th Century Russia, it tells the tumultuous story of Anna Karenina (Keira Knightley), a married aristocrat and mother who is an active part of the Russian high society. During a visit to her brother Stiva (Matthew MacFadyen), Anna meets the handsome and alluring Count Vronsky (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) who becomes infatuated with her. The two begin a forbidden and passionate affair at the expense of Anna’s marriage to the well-known politician Karenin (Jude Law) and her reputation. When Anna refuses to cease her affair she is forced to choose between a life of love or of obligation.

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

There is some violence in this movie including:

A man is seen jumping under a train. The crushed body with blood and gore is seen.

A woman jumps in front of a train. Her bloodstained body is seen afterwards.

During a horse race Vronsky and his horse fall. The horse is seen writhing in pain and the audience is told that he has broken his back. Vronsky is thrown from the horse but is unharmed. The horse is shot and killed by Vronsky.

Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes and scary visual images, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged five to eight, including the following:

Anna is forced to leave the marital home and leave her son with her husband. The son is distressed and looks fearful at being left with his father.

As Anna becomes very depressed, she is seen to be irrational and paranoid. For some viewers this may cause distress.

A man is seen dying of an illness. He is cared for and washed, but seen to be in significant pain.